Transitioning from Professional Dominatrix to Technology Entrepreneur: A Unique Campaign To Combat Revenge Porn

BDSM practitioner Madelaine Thomas represents far from your average startup entrepreneur. Following multiple occurrences of clients distributing her intimate photographs, she felt "sufficiently outraged to take action" and turned to tech solutions for a solution.

"Those were striking images, I'm not ashamed of the pictures, I'm ashamed of the way that they were weaponized by an individual who I don't know," explained Madelaine.

Just over a year since founding her company, Image Angel, which uses covert digital tracking to track perpetrators, has garnered significant recognition and was recommended as best practice in an independent pornography review earlier this year.

This represents a significant shift from her previous career in offering BDSM services, dominating clients in the realms of BDSM.

A Widespread Issue

Intimate image abuse, often referred to as image-based abuse, is a criminal offence with perpetrators risking two years in prison.

It is far from an issue uniquely experienced by those in the sex industry. A study indicates that approximately 1.42% of the women in the UK is affected by this form of abuse each year.

Madelaine, 37, explained victims endured feelings of humiliation. "I think a lot of people will comment, 'you put a private image out on the internet, what do you anticipate?'," she said.

"I demand dignity, I expect consideration, and I expect confidence, and I fail to understand why those are up for debate," she continued. "The fact that those images could be then shared in my community or with my loved ones and used to hurt them, that's beyond, that's not my choice, that's not my mistake, that's someone being an abuser."

A Unique Journey

Madelaine has been practicing as a dominatrix, mainly online, for a decade and always found her work empowering and fulfilling. "It's me as a woman in control, a woman who is confident and powerful, offering my body as a treat to someone of my own volition," she described.

"People think it's unusual but I don't see it any differently to a personal trainer or an financial advisor giving advice," she remarked.

She welcomes being a unique figure in the technology sector. "I know that it's bizarre, it's crazy to think that an individual who was a dominatrix is now a founder of a tech company, but it took someone who has been through it to understand the loopholes and the changes that needed to happen," she explained.

She maintained she was not in the least bit techy and was able to build her company after many late nights, research and "consulting experts" who understand tech.

How Does the Technology Work?

Image Angel can be used by any online platform where people exchange photos, for instance dating apps, social networks and online sites.

When an image is viewed by a viewer, it is automatically embedded with an undetectable digital marker which is specific to that viewer.

This covert marker is encoded within the digital file of the image itself and can withstand screen shots, being edited and being re-captured with a secondary device.

It ensures that if you discover your image has been shared without your consent, as long as the service you posted it on has the system integrated, the viewer's details will be hidden within the image and can be extracted by a data recovery specialist so action can be taken.

Currently, one service has implemented her tech and she's in discussions with several more.

Proven Technology, New Application

"The system is already in use in the film industry, it is employed in live television so this is not an untested concept, it's just a novel use and a new system," explained Madelaine.

"And we've tested it, we're partnering with a firm that has decades of expertise in tech development so we are confident that this is reliable and what we now need to do is deploy it widely," she added.

She said she hoped the technology would also act as a preventive measure to potential intimate image abusers.

Removing Stigma, Shifting Blame

An advocate from a leading helpline said she had seen directly the trauma and guilt intimate image abuse caused for victims.

"If that self-blame is compounded by a misinformed friend or professional who says 'well, why did you take those images in the first place?' that self blame can really be reinforced so it's crucial that the response a victim receives is that they have committed no error," she emphasized.

She noted it was inspiring that Madelaine was using her experience to bring about change, saying: "It is vital to have this multi-layered approach towards addressing technology-enabled abuse, because no one tool is going to be able to solve this problem, not just support services, it needs to be this integrated effort."

TV presenter Jess Davies was only fifteen when photographs of her in a state of undress were shared around her town. It was the first of several incidents Jess endured in her youth that would later shape her advocacy work.

"It required years, too long for someone to say to me, 'it wasn't your fault' and 'that was wrong'," recalled Jess.

She too is dedicated to removing the stigma of intimate image abuse from the victims to the offenders. "It isn't a crime to willingly share an image to someone," stated Jess.

"But it is a crime to circulate that non-consensually and I think that should always be where the blame is," she affirmed.